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By KRIS WERNOWSKY [email protected]
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Page: 1A
WILKES-BARRE – A Wilkes-Barre man was arrested Monday in one of the largest
individual liquor busts ever in Luzerne County, said officials from the state
Police Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement.
Police seized 415 cases of stolen vintage wine — valued at more than
$100,000 — from Christopher J. Konieski, 32, at his home at 143 Stanton St.
after he sold several cases to an undercover police officer, according to Sgt.
James Degnan of the LCE.
According to arrest papers:
An undercover officer met Konieski in the Market Street Square parking lot
near East Market Street and Wilkes-Barre Boulevard on Thursday. Konieski sold
the officer a case of 12 bottles of various Kenwood wines for $70.
When asked where he got such a large amount of wine to sell out of the
trunk of his Cadillac, Konieski told the officer it was from a truck that came
from California to New York and was “lost” somewhere on the interstate.
On Feb. 17, a tractor-trailer with nearly 1,200 cases of wine en route from
California to Connecticut was stolen near the Interstate 80 and state Route
611 interchange in Carbon County near Stroudsburg, according to Degnan. Two
days later, FBI investigators found the empty trailer in the area.
On Friday, Konieski met with the officer at Kmart on state Route 309 to
sell him another case of wine for $40. They also made arrangements for the
officer to purchase 140 cases of wine Monday. Konieski said he had 400 cases
in the garage and access to 400 more boxes once he sold out.
The officer notified the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board that Konieski
was selling alcohol without a liquor license, and he was arrested Monday.
Whether Konieski is suspected of being a small-time booze runner working on
his own or part of a larger illegal liquor distribution organization,
investigators won’t say.
Degnan said Konieski was selling some of the wine at a considerably lower
price than it was worth. Some of the stock had a retail value of $250 a
bottle.
Konieski was arrested on misdemeanor charges of selling alcohol without a
license and for transporting liquor that was unlawfully acquired, according to
a police complaint.
Konieski refused to speak to the Times Leader Tuesday night, but he was
arraigned Monday night before District Justice Martin Kane and released
pending a hearing on March 21 according to his attorney Pete Moses.